


Secret Santa

by Suaine



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 16:32:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17124839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Suaine/pseuds/Suaine
Summary: Eddie and Venom's first Christmas.





	Secret Santa

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bachiari](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bachiari/gifts).



Eddie’s last Christmas tree had been a scragly potted bastard he’d named Eddie Too, for the big asshole who’d ruined his life. While he was always good at self-pity, Eddie had never been good at self-deception and he knew exactly who had fucked up his relationship, his career and his mental health. It hadn’t been Carlton Drake, that’s for sure.

_ That doesn’t look very delicious. _

Venom sounded petulant in his head and Eddie had the distinct impression of a big feline curling around his inner organs. Purring. He… tried to ignore it while looking for the perfect tree. For some reason, this year he wanted Christmas to be festive and bright and nice. The way he would have made it for Anne.

See, he was very, very good at  _ pretending _ he didn’t know what was going on in his own head. “Christmas trees aren’t for eating,” he said under his breath. It was cold enough to require gloves and a hat, but Eddie had neither because he tended to forget about these things lately. Venom had a habit of adjusting his body’s temperature to make sure he was never too uncomfortable. He rubbed his palms from muscle memory, blew into them because it would cover his words. He really needed to get a Bluetooth headset just so he could look like a yuppy asshole instead of a crazy person.

_ What is it for then? We could probably shove it up someone’s ass. _

Eddie looked at the five foot fir tree. He tried not to imagine it too graphically, but Venom had a direct line to his visual cortex as well as everything else. Funny thing was that Venom’s pictionary impressions were always kind of comic-y, almost adorable. Sometimes Eddie found cute little Venom comics drawn in the margins of papers he was reading.

“It’s like that time I brought you flowers, when you were upset about the construction noise outside our apartment? Just, bigger. Brighter.”

_ Ah, I understand. It’s your inferiority complex. Everything must be bigger. _

Eddie shivered, but not from the cold. “Hah, yes, that. Inferiority complex. I really should get that looked at.” The phrase immediately evoked the thought of hospitals, doctors, and inevitably: Dan.

Venom huffed.  _ You’re fine. We don’t need Doctor Dan. He should keep his hands to himself. _

Venom had a jealous and/or protective streak that came out around Dan and it was absolutely hilarious. Eddie had started to warm up to the guy because by god he was basically a big, dumb puppy dog. And he made Anne happy. Anything that made Anne happy had to be a good thing.

“I’m not letting you anywhere near Dan for the next few days. I want a nice, quiet Christmas. Not sarcasm and bloodshed.” Although admittedly sarcasm and bloodshed were a large part of his life these days and Eddie didn’t hate it. He didn’t hate it at all.

Eddie was so distracted by Venom curling a tendril around his neck, he ran face first into the perfect tree. He yelped, Venom laughed, and the tree seemed to have no opinion. That right there was a good tree, the discreet kind. Eddie had always considered discretion to be an asset in his Christmas decorations. Oh, what those ornaments had witnessed.

_ Why are you thinking about sex, Eddie? _

Eddie blushed.

“Sir,” the Christmas tree vendor said, “are you alright?”

Eddie disentangled himself from the tree. “Yes, yes, of course. I’m fine. I think I’m going to buy this tree.”

+

Their apartment was cold and dark as Eddie dragged the tree inside with absolutely no help from his super powered… companion. Venom stayed quiet throughout the work of putting the tree up (though he did reach out and hold the thing before it crashed on Eddie’s head), and never actually got involved in putting decorations on it.

Of course, Eddie couldn’t expect an alien mind-control tentacle monster to understand the Christmas spirit, but sometimes Venom just indulged him in human bullshit. He always seemed so curious about, even hungry for, Eddie’s little rituals. But not today. Christmas apparently left his Grinch-y heart dark and cold.

“Well, I guess that’s just for me then. Isn’t it nice? All shiny and warm.” He didn’t say it, but he thought: and human.

There were two desires at work here and one he didn’t actually want to think about too much. It was the one that started with Venom’s touch on his skin where it didn’t need to be, with tendrils stroking his neck, with Venom covering him at night, like a blanket. Or a person. It ended with private moments he couldn’t keep private, his hand around his dick and his brain lighting up like a-- a Christmas tree. Hah!

Anyway, the other one was this: it was nice reminding himself that Eddie Brock was still human, a fairly boring, normal human dude who liked christmas and helping people because mostly people were good.

It was, frankly, the part of him that he thought made Venom change, little by little. Or maybe it wasn’t even change so much, because who could change Venom? Maybe it was just that Venom wanted to be better for Eddie, like Eddie had always wanted to be better for Anne. Sometimes it didn’t work out the way one thought, but the principle was sound. Be a better you for the person who deserved the world.

Venom actually made Eddie want to be better, because they were so closely tied together that it somehow made Venom better, too.

And really, Eddie just liked the  _ them _ that they made. The unit of Eddie-and-Venom was an alright kind of thing. Maybe better than alright. Maybe it was the best thing that ever happened to him. Maybe Venom was a sarcastic jerk who made Eddie smile and maybe Eddie never wanted anything more than this: together with the one person - creature… no, person - he liked.

He looked at the tree and stroked the back of his own hand, where he knew Venom could feel it. “Look, isn’t it pretty?”

+

Christmas morning, he was only very mildly hung over from eggnog and card games at Anne and Dan’s. Venom had actually come out and played along and he turned out to be one hell of a card shark. This whole thing with them all being friends was new, and weird, and awkward, but also really, really nice.

Eddie dragged himself into the kitchen and made some instant coffee while Venom was suspiciously quiet after last night’s exuberance.

“Hey, buddy, what’s up?”

_ Eddie _ , Venom purred,  _ look at the tree.  _ Then he materialized his head just above Eddie’s right shoulder. Eddie could feel the heat of it. He was buzzing with excitement.

“What are you on about?” Eddie laughed. “Did you do something to it? Please tell me it’s not a bloody mess.”

_ I would never ruin your Christmas tree, Eddie. You got it for me. For us. _

Venom’s voice was silky smooth, a dark and beautiful rumble that resonated deep in Eddie’s midsection. “Of course, I mean, it’s our first Christmas.” Together. Their first Christmas together. Venom nuzzled the side of his face.

_ Together. _

Eddie shook himself out of the little fantasy that was playing in his head and actually looked at the tree. There was… there was a tiny, hastily wrapped package under the tree. It was oddly shaped and looked like something the cat had dragged in. Or an alien tentacle monster.

Eddie grinned. “Venom, is that a gift?” He should probably be more worried about Venom taking his body out for a joyride when he was asleep, but Eddie found himself oddly charmed. “I didn’t get anything for you though, you should have said something.”

Venom licked along his earlobe and whispered,  _ you already gave me what I want. _

Eddie shivered, unsure how to react. If he turned a little sideways now, this would be impossible to deny. He would be in it for sure. Eddie turned. Venom had his teeth bared in a grin and he looked terrifying, and unbearably beautiful. Eddie leaned closer.

Kissing Venom was teeth and slick, vibrations all over his body and solid tentacles wrapping around every inch of him. Eddie moaned, desperate to get closer. He wanted. God, this. Everything.

But he pulled himself away, pushed Venom so he could see into his eyes. “What’s in the gift?”

Venom grabbed it with one of his tendrils and brought it up, almost delicately. Eddie had a sudden flash of a ring, something for forever. He shook the image out of his head and took the package. It looked like an impatient asshole had wrapped it, which was probably true.

Inside the package was a piece of electronics that made Eddie laugh out loud. “You got me a headset!”

Venom preened. He looked decidedly pleased with himself.  _ So you don’t have to feel like a crazy person when we talk. _

Eddie carefully threw to package on the couch and grabbed Venom’s head. Venom materialized a full body, with shoulders and thighs and everything in between. Holy god, Eddie shivered. “Merry fucking Christmas to us.”


End file.
